Who Knew?
by stickynotesofdeath
Summary: Axel, Roxas, and Xion. “I don’t want the memories to be inside him. I don’t want to go away. I want you and me and Axel to stay together forever. Isn’t that what we always wanted?” SPOILERS for Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.


DISCLAIMER: Kingdom Hearts and "Who Knew" by Pink do not belong to me. If they did, I would be a much happier person. Also, contains MAJOR spoilers for Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. I'm warning you now.

Also, just because I know what's coming, this is intended to just be friendship between Roxas, Xion and Axel. You could probably warp this into any pairing between the three of them if you're that determined, but it's mostly just about them being best friends.

* * *

The sun was setting in Twilight Town. There was nothing unusual about this – Xion had spent most of her afternoons watching the sunset over the quiet, peaceful city. What was unusual was that she did not ordinarily watch the sunset while falling from the top of the clock tower, as her best friend watched her like he'd never even seen her before.

If today were like normal days, she'd have been sitting on the tower with her two best friends and eating sea salt ice cream. They'd have talked and laughed and from the way they carried on, one might begin to think they actually had hearts. It was how she'd spent the end of almost every day with the Organization – side by side with the two most important people in her shadow of a life.

Axel and Roxas had been her best friends and her mentors. They made her laugh when she felt like crying, covered up for her when she screwed up – which she seemed to do a lot – and took care of her even if it meant putting themselves at risk. She wanted to stay with them forever. Even when she learned the truth about herself and knew she had to leave, she still couldn't completely give up on the idea. In fact, the more she realized it wasn't possible, the more she desperately wanted to stay with them. Every day they were together, a small part of her hoped that it wouldn't be the last time.

Today was different, though. Today was the day that small part of her was sent crashing to the ground, with the rest of her following shortly afterward.

Her knees hit the ground with a painful thud, and she swayed on the spot weakly.

She could tell Roxas was already starting to forget her. He held his head and stared at her blankly, as if he had completely forgotten that he had just soundly kicked her ass. Naminé had warned her that this would happen, but it still frightened her.

"Who are you… again?" Roxas asked.

Roxas staggered over to her. Suddenly Xion felt very, very dizzy, and knew she was running out of time.

"You'll be better off now, Roxas," she said softly.

Roxas caught her just before she hit the ground.

She was fading now – she knew she didn't have much longer. Using the last of her strength, she explained to Roxas what was happening. He stared down at her in horror as she tried to soothe his fears – that what happened wasn't his fault, that he wasn't going to disappear, that they'd be together again. Most importantly, she made sure to tell him of how to fix their mistakes.

"All those hearts I've captured," she told him, "Kingdom Hearts… set them free."

Then again, she could prepare him as much as she wanted, but it still wasn't going to change his fate. Even though what he wanted – what they both desperately wanted – was to be their own people, that would never happen. They'd be together as parts of Sora, but they would no longer be themselves. For Sora to get his happily ever after, they both had to lose theirs.

Roxas stared at her blankly. "Kingdom Hearts… free them?"

Xion felt the numbness slowly creeping up her legs, and she knew that it meant it was almost time for her to go. Roxas gasped and held her a little tighter.

"It's too late for me to undo my mistakes," Xion continued softly. "But you can't let Xemnas have Kingdom Hearts. You can't."

The numbness was spreading quickly. She was out of time.

"Goodbye, Roxas," she said, smiling weakly. "See you again. I'm glad I got to meet you… oh, and Axel, too."

Axel. He'd tried so hard to bring her back. After all the trouble she caused him, and even when he knew the truth about her, he still didn't give up on her. He was a true friend, and it was a shame she'd had to hurt him so much. She had always meant to apologize for it. Now, she didn't even get to say goodbye.

One last memory of the three of them on the clock tower flashed through her mind.

"You're both my best friends," she said with a smile. "Never forget, that's the truth."

Roxas grabbed her hand.

"No!" he cried. "Xion… who else will I have ice cream with?"

There was no time to answer him. Xion felt the crystallization spread up to her chest. It was time for her to leave him and Axel behind.

"_I want… I want to be with you two. What would it take for me to be like you?"_

* * *

Axel lay on his bed and stared up at the ceiling, feeling a heavy weight on his chest that he hadn't felt in a long time. This was ridiculous. If the damn weight on his chest weren't so heavy that it felt like his lungs would pop, he'd probably have laughed is head off at how stupid the whole thing was. As it was now, he really felt like going downstairs and setting the entire castle on fire.

How many times had he tried to talk to them out of their idiotic schemes? How many times had he stuck his neck out to protect Roxas, or dragged Xion's sorry ass back to the castle when she ran away? How many times had he told them that they were his best friends, and he wasn't going to leave them?

And how did they thank him? They both ran off to find separate but equally pain-in-the-ass ways of getting themselves destroyed.

"How did this happen?" he murmured. He sat up. He felt strangely hollow – not the usual Nobody kind of hollow, but as though his insides were a huge, black hole.

Although he hated to admit it, Saïx had been right – he shouldn't have gotten so attached to them, especially when he knew perfectly well that he'd lose at least one of them to Sora in the end. Even so, Axel had never seen two Nobodies more determined to be somebody. It was hard to harden his heart towards the two best friends he'd ever had, who made him feel like a real person. Even if they did stab him in the back, and even if he couldn't make them stay, no matter how hard he tried.

"Hm?"

He had just noticed the envelope on his window sill. It hadn't been there before. He didn't even own any envelopes, especially now that he really had no one worth writing to. He eyed it suspiciously for a moment, and then crossed the room to retrieve it.

It bore no stamps, markings, or address of any kind. Narrowing his eyes, Axel turned it over in his hands a couple times before finally flipping it over and ripping open the back. He dug around inside for a few moments until he felt some light, wooden sort of object.

One of the WINNER sticks.

Apparently Roxas, at least, wasn't so keen on completely abandoning his whole life after all.

_So the dumb butt didn't forget me after all. _Axel couldn't stop a little smiling from pulling at his lips. "Stupid idiot."

Suddenly his throat felt tight and dry, and it hurt to talk. Axel stopped smiling and swallowed hard to try and get rid of it, but it was no use. It felt as though someone had twisted a knife in his chest, and he put his hand over the area. It was strange, as he shouldn't have been able to feel anything.

"Jerks," he muttered. "Don't make me feel like I have a heart if the only thing it's going to do is hurt me."

* * *

Roxas ran up the tower as fast as his legs could carry him, wielding Oblivion in one hand and Oathkeeper in the other. He ran faster and faster towards the blindfolded boy above him – the Organization XIII impostor, the one that had convinced _her _to go away. Enraged in every fiber of his being at the thought, Roxas hurtled Oblivion straight at him. The boy simply caught it, but as Roxas passed him on the way up, he noticed that the boy seemed rather in shock to be holding a Keyblade.

Not that it mattered much. Roxas was still going to destroy him for getting in the way.

"_You can't let Xemnas have Kingdom Hearts. You can't."_

That was _she _had said to him, right before she faded away. Even if he had already forgotten her name and was slowly forgetting other little things about her, he remembered that. It was the most important thing. If he took out Kingdom Hearts, that might be the end of it. From the sounds of it, destroying Kingdom Hearts would fix everything.

Maybe, just maybe, it could even bring them all back together again. Roxas had it all worked out in his head: he'd destroy Kingdom Hearts and bring her back, however that worked out. Then, with no Kingdom Hearst to covet, Axel could leave the Organization, too, and join them. They would be together forever, just like they always said they'd be. They would sit on the clock tower every day and eat ice cream, just like they always did. Once he fixed everything, it would be like nothing had ever changed.

That was the main reason why Roxas was running through the rain in The World that Never Was that night, with his hood pulled up and his cloak wrapped tightly around him. It was the reason that nothing would stop him from getting to Kingdom Hearts – not anyone from Organization XIII, not the fear of being destroyed, and certainly not that stupid, silver-haired, blindfolded boy.

That boy landed on the ground just as Roxas hit the top of the tower. After a moment's hesitation, Roxas jumped from the tower and landed beside him. They turned on each other, each prepared for a fight. The boy struck first, but in no time Roxas beat him down and knocked him to the ground.

The boy stared up at him in awe. "Why?" he demanded. "Why do you have the Keyblade?"

Disgust filled Roxas' body. "Shut up!"

Roxas took a swing at him but the boy countered it, sending Roxas flying backwards. He hit the ground hard. It was a stark reminder that although Nobodies couldn't technically feel _emotional _pain, they could sure as hell feel the physical kind.

For a moment Roxas lay on the concrete with his eyes closed, in too much pain to stand up. Then he heard a clanging next to him, as if a Keyblade had landed directly next to his head. It snapped him out of his stupor.

_Remember why you're here, _he told himself harshly. _You have a job to do, remember? Your friends are counting on you._

His eyelids fluttered open. The boy, who had been standing before him triumphantly, gasped as Roxas push himself back to his feet and pulled the Keyblade out of the ground. It hurt like hell, but it would be worth it.

"Why don't you quit?" Roxas shouted.

The boy looked sad for a moment. Then, oddly enough, he smirked and called, "Come on, Sora, I thought you were stronger than that."

_There goes that damn Sora again._

"Come on, get real! Look which one of us is winning!"

Startled, Roxas pulled back and put his hand over his mouth. The words had certainly come from his throat, but he hadn't meant to say them. A voice from deep inside him had called out, it seemed. _Does this have something to do with that Sora business? _Roxas thought worriedly. _Is this what Axel wouldn't tell me, what… what she was talking about?_

The boy looked satisfied. "So it's true," he said. "You really are his Nobody. Guess DiZ was right after all."

"What are you talking about?" asked Roxas fiercely. "I am _me_! Nobody else!"

Roxas drew his Keyblades again and charged. The boy dodged his first attack without a problem, but with the second Roxas slashed him right across the ribs. The boy bent over, holding his stomach and gasping for air.

"How many times do I have to beat you?" Roxas asked harshly.

"All right. You've left me with no other choice." The boy struggled to his feet and pulled off his blindfold, going on about releasing the darkness within him or something. Honestly Roxas didn't really care – _she _had given him a mission, and this stupid idiot was just getting in the way.

That train of thought was quickly interrupted as the boy burst into a purplish-black explosion of darkness. When the darkness parted, the boy was no longer there – rather, it was a fearsome, evil-looking man who reminded him strangely of Xemnas. The man surged forward and grabbed Roxas, raising him in the air and squeezing him tighter and tighter until it felt as though his lungs would burst. The Keyblades clattered helplessly to the ground, and in no time at all he was gone.

Her voice came to him as he was slipping away.

…_Memories of you and me will always be together, forever, inside him._

"I don't want the memories to be _inside him. _I don't want to go away. I want you and me and Axel to stay together forever. Isn't that what we always wanted?"

"_If someone said three years from now,_

_You'd be long gone,_

_I'd stand up and punch them out,_

'_Cause they're all wrong!_

_That last kiss, I'll cherish_

_Until we meet again,_

_And time makes it harder,_

_I wish I could remember…_

_But I keep your memory._

_You visit me in my sleep._

_My darling… who knew?"_

* * *

I love Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. That game is addictive. I used up my whole winter break playing it. It was actually a little pathetic :)

Axel has always been one of my favorite characters in the series, but after this game I fell in love with Roxas and Xion, too. I have to say that I prefer Roxas to Sora, honestly. It just seems so unfair that while everyone's worrying and it's all Sora, Sora, Sora, nobody cares about the ones who are really getting hurt. Sora doesn't even realize how many sacrifices were made for him to carry on the way he does.

But I digress.

I listened to the song "Who Knew" shortly after I beat the game and was thus inspired. The breakdown of the song in my head is this:

Xion – the first verse and first chorus

Axel – the second verse, second chorus, and the bridge

Roxas – the whole end of the song

This is also my first fanfic (OMG NOOB!!!111!1), so if you would like to rate/review/whatever, that would be very much appreciated.

Thanks for reading!


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